


The Day Before Halloween

by ladyroxanne21



Series: Growing Up Potter [11]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: A family gathering for Halloween, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-25 14:51:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7537054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyroxanne21/pseuds/ladyroxanne21
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the day before Halloween, Dudley visits Harry and overhears a rather poignant conversation between Harry and Donna - Dudley's fiancee.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Day Before Halloween

It was nearing Halloween and by this point in time, Daisy was a regular visitor to Grimmauld Place. Dudley had gotten the job in London, and so he and Donna had moved within walking distance of Harry because it was also close to Dudley's job. Donna had then gotten a part time job – and at Harry's suggestion – dropped Daisy off while she was working.

After work, Donna liked to stay and let Daisy play until Dudley arrived. She also spent a lot of time in the kitchen with Harry and Hannah. Which was where Dudley found Donna when he arrived after work on the day before Halloween. They were cooking up what _should_ have been a feast, but was actually a normal family dinner. Dudley leaned against the door frame as he watched them, his heart thumping just a bit when he saw his beloved impatiently push hair out of her adorably sweaty face.

“I keep meaning to ask, Harry,” Donna began with a smile. “But where did you learn to cook like this?”

“My aunt Petunia taught me,” Harry murmured, managing a tiny smile. “It seemed like the only time she was kind to me was when we were chopping vegetables. It would be just the two of us in the kitchen, and for an hour or so, she'd be patient. She'd show me what to do until I learned to do it right. To be honest, if all she had ever taught me was how to fry up bacon and eggs, I'd be grateful, but she often had me help her make fancy dinners and desserts. I _love_ to cook!”

“How can you be so...” Donna asked incredulously, faltering and then trying again. “How are you not _angry_ at her?!”

Harry shrugged. “Voldemort killed my parents when I was a baby and tried to kill me. I have this stupid scar on my forehead because I lived. And so maybe my life _was_ sort of miserable until I was 11. I grew up thinking that was normal. I didn't _know_ that I was being treated particularly badly because who could I have asked?

“Then I went to Hogwarts and found so much. I found magic and happiness and _friends,”_ Harry paused when Hannah kissed his cheek in sympathy. “But the entire time, Voldemort was trying to kill me. He let a troll loose my first year in the hopes that I'd be killed. He literally tried to kill me with his bare hands when he realized that I had the Philosopher's stone in my pocket. He tried so many times over the years...

“He indirectly tried to kill me with a basilisk. He arranged for me to fight a dragon in a tournament that he ensured would end up with me grabbing a portkey to his father's grave so that he could take my blood and then kill me. He – well, yeah. He tried to kill me for many years,” Harry sighed, deciding not to go into any more detail.

“When I think back and compare... Well, Voldemort wins the evil award hands down, so I could either hold a grudge against half the people I know, or I could just move on. I'm so much happier now that I've moved on,” Harry ended with a grin.

“Yes, you are definitely happy,” Donna murmured with a soft smile. “The other thing I want to ask – now that there aren't children in the room – is... _why_ do you have a relationship with eight women and a man? I mean I know that the papers reported that you all had an orgy under the influence of a lust potion, but once you realized that you loved Draco and wanted to marry him, shouldn't you have told the rest to find a different place to live?”

Harry tilted his head curiously. “In that situation, how do you imagine that I'd be able to see my kids this much?”

Donna reluctantly had to admit that he had a point. “Well, fine, there is that. What I really mean is that you actually seem to be _with_ all of them. Surely that's...” She trailed off as she tilted her head to the side and avoided looking at him.

Hannah giggled. “No, Harry's not actually with any of us – I mean, aside from Draco. But we've become one big family and we do all love each other. I couldn't imagine moving out and tearing Remus away from his brothers and sisters. If we just so happen to be a bit friendlier with each other than most people consider appropriate, well, oh well! That's _their_ problem!”

Hermione carefully didn't push Dudley out of the way as she brushed past him into the kitchen. “Is dinner ready?”

“Well, almost,” Harry answered. “Just have a few minutes left on the dinner rolls.”

“Perfect!” Hermione crowed with a mischievous grin. “Put a stasis charm on everything!”

“What? Why?” Harry asked in confusion.

“Because they kids are all an absolute mess and Draco has demanded a family bath before we eat dinner,” Hermione stated firmly.

Harry whined. “But I'm hungry now!”

Hermione huffed in frustration and promptly cast stasis charms on all the warm and ready food. As she did this, Hannah magicked the oven to shut off and go into stasis mode the moment the rolls were done baking. Then the both of them grabbed Harry's hands to drag him.

“A family bath means _everyone,”_ Hannah reminded him.

“But! Oh Merlin's nasty hairy mole!” Harry cried out in defeat. “You're really going to make us all wait for dinner to take a bath?”

“Yes!” Hermione and Hannah both insisted.

Hermione then turned to Donna and Dudley. “I'd invite you to join us if I thought you'd even consider it. As it is, Andromeda will be happy to serve you tea, and if you feel like you'd like to wash your hands before dinner, she has a loo with a sink in her room.”

Harry was still protesting. “Wait a minute, if it's _the kids_ that are dirty, what do _I_ have to take a bath?”

“Because you're hot and sweaty from cooking,” Hannah stated.

“Fine, if I have to take a bath I don't want, I'm starting a water fight! And I'm going to play to win!” Harry insisted. They had pushed him halfway up the stairs by this point.

Dudley and Donna both snickered as they watched the trio head toward the bathroom.

“It's weird that he bathes with the entire family,” Dudley murmured.

Donna shrugged. “Not so weird in my opinion. My family didn't exactly bathe all together, but there were enough of us living in one house that hopping into the shower with someone or two or three was no big deal.”

Dudley gestured to the room he knew Andromeda stayed in. Although he didn't know this, she had cast extension charms on her room so that it was now a large suite of rooms containing a parlor, a small library, a playroom, a bedroom for Teddy, a bedroom for herself, and a small loo. Andromeda invited them in with a smile.

“I have something I need to tell you,” she informed them.

 

***

 

Harry was just too hungry to fight Draco any more tonight. He tugged on the sleeve of the rather dressy robe he was wearing, and then cast a glare at his beloved. “There! Happy?!”

“Yes,” Draco stated with a smug grin. “Quite!”

“God! You're such a pureblood ponce!” Harry roared in complaint. “It's just a family dinner, for Merlin's sake. It's not like we don't have them every friggin' night!”

“It's good to have class on occasion,” Draco reminded him, citing the same excuse he used every time he felt like dressing up – which averaged once every month or two.

“Can we just go eat now?” Harry grumbled, his stomach growling.

“Of course,” Draco permitted with a tender kiss. “Padma, Parvati, and Pansy have probably even managed to wrangle our three and their three into clothes by now.”

“They can go naked if it means me eating in the next five minutes,” Harry vowed seriously.

Draco chuckled. “Fine, the next time we need to take a family bath before dinner, I promise that we will all just go naked to the table so that we can eat right away.”

Harry grinned. He really liked this plan. In fact, it sounded a little like heaven, and then bonus! When the kids got food all over every single thing in creation, they would be so much easier to clean back up.

Hand in hand, Draco led Harry back downstairs. Harry frowned when they entered the dining room and saw that it had been extended again and now had a large doorway that was wide open to reveal their backyard. He glanced at Draco.

“Did I miss something?”

Draco smirked. “Not yet.” He then led Harry outside where the entire family sat. And that was literal.

Harry looked around, highly puzzled to see Neville sitting next to Hannah, Lucius and Narcissa sitting at the front of one side of an aisle. The _entire_ Weasley clan sitting on the other side of the aisle. Dudley and Donna now looked like they had cleaned up and changed into their Sunday best. Other friends of both Harry and Draco were sitting in chairs arranged in the back yard to form a short aisle that led to Hermione – who stood holding a book and looking possibly more gorgeous than she ever had in her life.

“Whaaaaat's going on...” Harry asked slowly, still _very_ confused.

“You said that you didn't want a huge wedding reminiscent of that muggle Prince of yours, and so I had news leaked to the Daily Prophet that we are getting married next spring at Malfoy Manor. I also had mother hint to important people here and there that invitations might be sent out soon.”

“And... So we're having an engagement party or something?” Harry wondered, _still_ not getting it.

Draco laughed softly. “No. We're having that small wedding you wanted.”

Harry's eyes positively lit up and he stood up just a bit straighter. “What? Now?!”

Draco nodded. Harry threw his arms around Draco and hugged him tight. Draco blushed and looked away from their audience so that they couldn't see him show such a weak emotion. After the moment seemed to drag on a bit too long, Draco pushed Harry away.

“Let's do this already,” Draco stated gruffly.

“Yes!” Harry agreed enthusiastically.

They walked down the aisle that now seemed to stretch out for all of eternity. Harry tried to smile at everyone, touched that they had gone to all this trouble for him. Also, just a bit miffed that they had managed to keep such a huge secret from him and he hadn't even suspected! In the crowd, he noticed that his friend Randy from the Daily Prophet was here to take care of the obligatory article that the public would expect.

When they finally – three hundred million years later – arrived in front of Hermione, Harry grinned at her. “You're looking fabulous today.”

She laughed in pure delight. “You're not half bad yourself.”

“So... you're a minister now?” Harry wondered with a raised brow.

“As it happens, I registered with the Ministry to perform weddings, so, yes and no. Not a minister, but I _can_ legally do this,” Hermione explained.

“I asked her to,” Draco murmured in Harry's ear.

Harry was suddenly so emotional for so many reasons. He was tempted to melt into a puddle on the ground, and then purr like a cat for the rest of his life. He settle for a teary: “Aww...”

Hermione decided to just get on with it. She and Draco had agreed that Harry would probably want the ceremony to be short and to the point, so she started with a general announcement as to why they were all there in the beautifully decorated yard. Privately, Harry wondered what kind of magic they'd used to do all this in the short amount of time that Harry was in the bath and then getting dressed – especially considering that the girls were all in the bath with him the entire time!

“Draco, as the Heir of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Malfoy, do you take Harry to be your lawfully wedded husband?” She then smirked because he didn't want to say anything mushy, so she had agreed to say it all for him. “Do you promise to love Harry? Will you stay by his side as his friend and lover for the rest of your lives? Will you be there for him and help him raise his children – whether they be your own or not?”

Draco was surprised to find himself trembling as he looked at Harry for a moment. “I will. I promise.”

He then took the ring that his father had levitated over to him out of the air. It was a solid gold band with the Malfoy crest on it that had been made just for Harry in a lighter style that suited him. He slipped the ring onto Harry's finger with the engagement band he was wearing.

Harry was not the only one on the verge of tears right now. He could see a suspicious sheen in Draco's eyes, and it made Harry want to hold him tight again, but he held back for a few more moments. But damn! It was a struggle!

Hermione sighed emotionally, also wishing that she could take a minute to sob and wail from happiness. She looked to where Ron and Pansy were watching them. Maybe they would be the next to get married, but then again, maybe not. Not until it was legal somewhere in the world for the three of them to enter into an equal and valid marriage.

“Harry,” Hermione continued, smiling at her best friend. “As –” She was cut short.

“As the Savior of the Wizarding World,” Pansy called out.

“As the Boy Who Lived,” Hannah added.

“As the person who finally killed the Dark Lord – with an Expelliarmus, no less!” Susan cheered.

“As a right barmy git and the best friend a man could have,” Ron roared with a grin.

“As the father of all our children,” the Patil twins stated.

“As the most forgiving man I know,” Luna murmured serenely.

“As the most charming idiot I know!” Ginny exclaimed with a smirk.

“As a man who makes me proud to call him son,” Molly sobbed through happy tears.

Hermione waited a moment to see if there would be anything more, and then shook her head as she chuckled. “As the Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black _and_ Potter, do you take Draco to be your lawfully wedded husband? Do you promise to love him?”

She paused when she heard Harry exclaim _yes_ under his breath. Still smiling, she continued. “Will you stay by his side as his friend and lover for the rest of your lives? Will you be there for him and help him in any way that he needs?”

Harry could no longer contain himself. “I will, I promise!” He didn't even wait for Hermione to give permission – which he assumed was coming next – he just flung his arms around Draco again and kissed him as Hermione gasped out a laugh.

“Then by my authority granted by the Ministry, I pronounce you Husband and Husband, and yes, you may seal your vows with a kiss!” She waited a reasonable amount of time – about ten seconds – and then she moved to break them apart.

Fortunately, Draco suddenly remembered that they were in front of a crowd of people he didn't normally like to to be mushy and weak in front of. So, he pushed Harry away slightly, broke off the kiss, and looked toward Hermione so that no one in the audience would see him blushing as red as he ever had.

Without a word, Hermione diffused Draco's embarrassment by handing Harry a ring. “This was found in your vault.”

Harry looked at it curiously for a moment before realizing that it was an official signet ring for the Potter family. He looked up at Draco with a slight frown. “Is this okay?”

Draco nodded, holding out his hand so that Harry could place the ring next to their engagement ring. Then he held up his hand to forestall another kiss. “No more embarrassing public displays until after dinner.”

Harry laughed, holding onto Draco's hand. “And I'm still starving!” He then narrowed his eyes at Draco. “I can't believe you made me make my own wedding feast!”

“Not all of it!” Draco protested, and then gestured to Molly. “She brought at least twice as much as you made!”

Molly took this as her cue. She leapt to her feet and rushed to swamp Harry in a tight hug dripping with parental pride. She was far too emotional to speak coherently – which was exactly how she'd been at Bill's wedding, Percy's wedding, and when George married Angelina. Harry simply hugged her back until Ron rescued him.

After that, it seemed like almost everyone wanted to hug Harry – and some of them even wanted to hug Draco! Draco suffered through it all with an bemused smile. Perhaps most surprising of all was when his mother and father took turns hugging him _in public!_ This was not the done thing.

Finally, _finally,_ Harry was sitting at a table with food on a plate before him. “Merlin's sweaty arse crack! I could eat an elephant!”

Draco paused with a fork halfway to his mouth. “ _Please_ tell me that you didn't drink one of the fertility potions!”

“No!” Harry gasped out. Then he looked around the table suspiciously. “None of you slipped it to me when I wasn't looking, did you?”

There was a round of overly innocent denials. George went on and on about how he couldn't _possibly_ have done such a thing to Harry. However, Harry was pretty sure that this was just the usual heckling from a professional practical joker. Probably. Hopefully. Oh God! George could have totally done it, couldn't he?!

Hermione snorted at the look of panic on Harry's face and decided to solve the problem by casting a pregnancy test spell on him. As expected – by everyone but Harry, it appeared – the test came up black, meaning that he was definitely _not_ pregnant. Harry and Draco both sighed in relief.

Harry looked at Draco and wondered if and when they would be ready for another child belonging to the two of them. He was so overcome by the possibilities and sheer _love_ for Draco, that he set his fork down without even taking a bite yet, and grabbed his new husband. Harry pressed a kiss to Draco's lips that provoked happy purrs from some of the guests, and raucous heckling from others.

“Mate! I'm trying to eat here!” Ron protested with a wry grin.

“I thought you said you were hungry,” Dudley reminded him. He then looked around at all of the kids running amok. During the wedding, they must have been under some sort of spell because they had all sat quietly and well behaved, but now they were as chaotic as ever.

Harry ended the kiss with a smirk at Dudley. “I _am_ hungry. I just needed to kiss _my husband_ more than I needed food at the moment.”

Draco, still feeling just a bit dizzy from the unexpected kiss, sighed as if severely put upon. “Try to hold it in until we're alone!”

Pansy snorted. “I think it's _hilarious_ how much you keep protesting all these public kisses when we're all in our home _where you two kiss all the time!”_

Draco pointedly did not look at her. Harry laced their hands together. This made Draco look at Harry warily as if another kiss was to be expected.

“I promise, I'll do my best to wait until later to kiss you again,” Harry stated, although he was sure it was going to be a hard promise to keep.

Dinner progressed until even Harry pushed his plate away and groaned at how full he was. As usual, the entire house was loud with both conversation and laughter. Plus kids who were still running around playing, pausing only long enough to grab a bite off a plate when they felt the need.

When there came a lull – which normally Molly would have leapt up to clear away the dishes – Luna and Ginny exchanged significant glances. Ginny stood up and held up a glass full of wine. She waited until everyone (aside from the kids) fell silent.

“I bet you all think that I'm about to make a toast to the happy couple, don't you?” Ginny asked and was met with curious nods. She grinned. “Nope! There's a long standing custom...” Luna handed her a knife. “That when a glass is clinked, the newlyweds have to kiss, and since we all know that Draco asked Harry to wait until after they'd had dinner at the very least, I think it's only fair that _Draco_ have to kiss Harry.” She then clinked the knife against the glass.

Luna was already waiting and did so as well. Pansy and the rest of those living in the house quickly picked up knives and joined in on the clinking. George always loved an opportunity to heckle someone, so he also promptly joined in, as did his wife. The rest of the Weasleys were next, and then all their friends. Which meant that everyone was doing it except for Lucius and Narcissa.

Harry was looking at Draco, wondering whether he should ask everyone to stop. Suddenly, Draco saw his parents join in on the clinking with tiny smiles of approval. It was like a dam burst inside him. For once, he flung his arms around Harry and initiated a rather passionate kiss.

“I love you,” Harry murmured when their kiss ended. He rested his forehead against Draco's.

“I love you too,” Draco replied honestly, ignoring the clapping and cheering all around them. “And you'd better preserve that in a pensieve because I am _never_ saying that in public again!”

Harry grinned at him. “I know.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry I didn't warn you in the tags, but...


End file.
